Senior Member

Ok, sorry, I missed one piece of information. The man parked the car before he met his friend for drinking; after that he leaved the car in the parking lot for the night. So my doubt is, is she saying that Anvil had been drinking before he arrived, or that he was physically holding a glass while parking?

I am totally in agreement with sorry66 here. When I first read the OP, my thought was of someone in a Cadillac with a glass of Scotch whiskey in his hand (stringendo forte un bicchiere di Scotch whiskey nel mano???).

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Senior Member

I think if someone said 'he was a holding a scotch in his hand' without any context, I would think of a glass.
But given that the person arrives somewhere with a scotch, I say it could just as likely be a bottle. You don't generally walk down the street or across a car park with a glass in your hand.

Senior Member

I think if someone said 'he was a holding a scotch in his hand' without any context, I would think of a glass.
But given that the person arrives somewhere with a scotch, I say it could just as likely be a bottle. You don't generally walk down the street or across a car park with a glass in your hand.

In general so would I! So nothing about this situation makes you think a bottle might be possible? We can't rule out the possibility. And 'clutching' seems more appropriate for a bottle, somehow - depends on the type of glass, though!

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Yes, but the woman is upset and might just have omitted to be precise and say 'a bottle of..'.
On the other hand, if he's a 'sbronzo' he could have poured himself a whisky in the car and then walked in with it! He may even have parked badly because he was desperate for another drink.

Senior Member

Yes, but the woman is upset and might just have omitted to be precise and say 'a bottle of..'.
On the other hand, if he's a 'sbronzo' he could have poured himself a whisky in the car and then walked in with it! He may even have parked badly because he was desperate for another drink.

Everything is possible
p.s. note that there's not such thing as "a sbronzo" in Italian. Unlike the English "drunk", "sbronzo" (just like "ubriaco") can only refer to the state of a person who is drunk at that very moment. To indicate a person who is usually or often drunk we say "ubriacone" or "alcolizzato".

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My silly question of the day. If Anvil had been driving with a glass/bottle in one of his hands shouldn't have the woman said "he was clutching..." in place of "he had been clutching..."?. Could "clutching a scotch" be a colourful way to say "he had drunk whysky "?
In any case this is the only thing which makes sense IMO, unless the woman knew it was a peculiar Anvil's habit to drive with bottles or glasses in his hands.

Senior Member

Ansil Merriwether’s navy Cadillac with the dented fender was parked across two spots. He’d probably been clutching a scotch when he arrived for drinks with his cronies. @Pietruzzo
For a regular drunk, you might say something like 'I saw Ansil last night, glass in hand, as usual'. 'Clutching a scotch' isn't a regular metaphor. 'Clutching' does suggest, however, that he was holding it tightly because it was precious to him.
I think the suggestion is that the Ansil needs his liqueur and it wouldn't surprise the woman if he had been holding some such drink as scotch. She also concluded that from the irregular parking, and we can conclude from the dented fender that he often drives carelessly.
Re: the tenses
You're assuming the the 'arrived' means 'arrived at the parking lot' which is fair enough. Then it would be 'He was...'.
I was assuming 'arrived' referred to him entering the club/venue. 'He'd been...' means that he was holding the scotch at some point, before entering the building.
So he may or may not have been holding the scotch in the car, but by all means, it's fair to assume it, given the way he parked.